Brown v. Board of Education (1954): End Segregation

The Problem We All Live With is a 1964 painting by Norman Rockwell.
An iconic image of the civil rights movement in the United States,[2] it depicts Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old
African-American girl, on her way into an all-white public school in New Orleans on November 14, 1960 during the process of racial desegregation.
Because of threats and violence against her, she is escorted by four deputy U.S. marshals; the painting is
framed such that the marshals' heads are cropped at the shoulders.[3][4] On the wall behind her is written the racial slur "nigger"
and the letters "KKK"; a smashed tomato thrown at Bridges is also visible. The white crowd is not visible, as the viewer is
looking at the scene from their point of view.[3] The painting is oil on canvas and measures 36 inches high by 58 inches wide.[5]Read more

Brown v. Board of Education (1954): End Segregation

On May 17, 1954 all the Justices of the of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

Elizabeth's public ordeal was captured by press photographers on the morning of September 4, 1957, after she was prevented from entering the school by the Arkansas
National Guard. A dramatic snapshot by Johnny Jenkins (UPI) showed the young girl being followed and threatened by an angry white mob; this and other photos of the day's startling events were
circulated around the US and the world by the print press.

The most famous photo of the event was taken by Will Counts of the Arkansas Democrat.
His image was the unanimous selection for a 1958 Pulitzer Prize, but since the story had earned the
Arkansas Gazette two other Pulitzer Prizes already, the Prize was awarded to another photographer for a pleasant photograph of a two-year-old boy in Washington, D.C. A different photo taken
by Counts of Alex Wilson, a black reporter for the Memphis Tri-State Defender being beaten by the angry mob in Little Rock the same day, was chosen as the "News Picture of the Year" for 1957
by the National Press Photographers Association. This image by Counts prompted President Dwight D. Eisenhower to send federal troops to Little Rock. [2]Read more

These cases come to us from the States of Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. They are premised on different facts and different local conditions, but a
common legal question justifies their consideration together in this consolidated opinion. [n1]
[p487]

In each of the cases, minors of the Negro race, through their legal representatives, seek the aid of the courts in obtaining admission to the public schools of their
community on a nonsegregated basis. In each instance, [p488] they had been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to race.
This segregation was alleged to deprive the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment. In each of the cases other than the Delaware case, a three-judge federal
district court denied relief to the plaintiffs on the so-called "separate but equal" doctrine announced by this Court in Plessy v. Fergson, 163 U.S. 537. Under that doctrine, equality of treatment is accorded when the races are provided substantially equal
facilities, even though these facilities be separate. In the Delaware case, the Supreme Court of Delaware adhered to that doctrine, but ordered that the plaintiffs be admitted to the white schools
because of their superiority to the Negro schools.Read more

National Park Service - Brown v. Board of Education

The story of Brown v. Board of Education, which ended legal segregation in public schools, is one of hope and courage. When the people agreed to be plaintiffs in the
case, they never knew they would change history. The people who make up this story were ordinary people. They were teachers, secretaries, welders, ministers and students who simply wanted to be
treated equally.Read more

Brown v. Board of Education, 1954: End Segregation

Desegregation Pioneers to Be Honored During UF Constitution Day Program

Fifty years ago one man changed the course of history for higher education in the state of Florida. African-American, academically eligible, and eager to start his
instruction, Virgil Hawkins was denied admission to the University of Florida College of Law based solely on his race.

With the legal assistance of future Associate Justice of the United States Thurgood Marshall, it took nine years, five Florida Supreme Court and four U.S. Supreme
Court rulings before Hawkins broke the color barrier for students at the University of Florida. As a result, more than 12,000 African-Americans have since earned degrees at the University of
Florida.

"Virgil Hawkins and the other students of color who followed demonstrated remarkable personal courage and persistence," said Robert Jerry, dean and a Levin, Mabie and
Levin professor of law. "Today, UF has a more diverse student body, one that more closely matches the population of Florida and the nation."

Hawkins’ efforts opened the door for others, including George H. Starke Jr. who in 1958 was the first African-American to be admitted to UF’s College of Law; W. George
Allen, who in 1962 was the first African-American to graduate with a UF Law degree; and the Hon. Stephan Mickle one of the first African-American students to be admitted to UF for an undergraduate
degree.

To commemorate UF’s desegregation and its positive effects on education, the public is invited to attend the 50th Anniversary of desegregation during UF’s Constitution
Day Program at the Levin College of Law on Sept. 17, 2008.

The event will take place in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom 180 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The commemoration will include George H. Starke Jr. and relatives
of the late Mr. Hawkins and prominent alumni of the College of Law, including the Hon. Stephan Mickle, United States District Judge, Northern District of Florida. College faculty will provide an
academic perspective on the legal process of desegregation.

Parking restrictions at the college will be lifted for the day.

Fast Facts:

In fall 2007, 51,725 students were enrolled at the University of Florida, including approximately 4,300 African-Americans, 6,000 Hispanics and 3,800
Asian-Americans.

1946-1958 – 85 African-American students apply to the University of Florida and are denied admission.

1949 – Virgil Hawkins and William T. Lewis are denied admission to UF College of Law.

1954 – Brown v. Board of Education decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a companion decision, the court orders the University of Florida is ordered to admit Virgil
Hawkins. The state resists the ruling. Virgil Hawkins brings his case before the Florida Supreme Court five times and the U.S. Supreme Court four times.

»I was born in Sanford, Florida, which used to be a totally segregated community. When I was in college, I was
home for a visit and went to the public library to do some research for a project, and I was told that I couldn’t come into the white library. I just walked past the lady and found the books I needed
and sat down. They whispered and pointed, but nobody beat me up, so I did my research.

»It was an injustice that the Florida Supreme Court — all those white justices — kept denying Virgil Hawkins the
right to go to the University of Florida. Virgil kind of made a deal that he would give up his right to go if they would admit other blacks, so Virgil sacrificed for me.

»I started working in the fields when I was about 10 years old. The white farmers would close down the black
schools in the winter because Sanford was a farming area, mostly celery at the time, and all of us blacks who were able-bodied had to work in the fields. People were arrested for not
working.

»When I arrived at the University of Florida, they wouldn’t let me live at married student housing because we
were black. I would receive telephone calls, saying, ‘nigger, nigger we’re going to kill you,’ and I’d tell them to go hell. My dad gave me a rifle and said, ‘if they come to your house, shoot them.’
I had young kids, so I taught them how to shoot. I made it known that I don’t believe in non-violence like Martin Luther King. You bother me, I’m violent.

»I fish the St. Johns River and Everglades City on the west coast. I like to fish in Martha’s Vineyard, too. My
wife and I have a house there. We’ve been going to Martha’s Vineyard longer than Barack Obama.

»A friend of mine, Percy Lee, we were working in the fields cutting celery, along with other youngsters. The
overseer, the straw boss, his name was Red Tile. He had a bad attitude and hated black folk. He and Percy got into an argument about how Percy was packing the celery. He said Percy sassed him and
that ‘no nigger could talk to a white person this way.’ So, he got a machete knife and he said he was going to kill Percy. Percy’s mother and my mother and father and a lot of the other grown-ups
told him, ‘no you won’t.’ They circled Percy, and I was in there with them. We had to get Percy out of the field because the guy was really going to kill him.

»I was admitted to Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley, but I’m a native Floridian, and I felt
that somebody had to integrate the University of Florida. The racists told me I didn’t belong there and I’d never graduate. I got into one or two fights with students who were disrespectful, but I
never considered quitting. I made it known that you’re not going to run me away. You’re not going to scare me. I’m going to outstudy all of you, and I’m going to graduate.

»In law school, one of the guys asked me if I would be offended if someone used the ‘n’ word and I said yes. It’s
offensive. It’s denigrating. The people who try to popularize that word today are wrong.

»The first time I was offered a judgeship, they weren’t making a lot of money back then. Nixon was president. I
think they were making $36,000 a year, and frankly I was making more. Also, judges have to be impartial, like referees, and I have an opinion about every damn thing.

»Our educational system in Florida is in shambles. This Jeb Bush crap of rating schools and letting all the
students who want to leave their school get vouchers to go to good schools just leaves all the schools in the poor communities as F schools. What we’ve done is we’ve reverted back to segregated
schools in poor communities. Jeb Bush screwed up our educational system. It was never about anything but privatizing education and making money for his friends.

»My father instilled in me the attitude that you don’t accept injustice. If you have to fight, fight. He was that
way. He didn’t take any crap.

»I was 36 and I saw this yellow Rolls-Royce and the wife allowed me to buy it. I got stopped a lot by cops, so I
got rid of that one and bought a gray one. At the time, I was doing a lot of civil rights work, and the IRS audited me for 15 straight years. My accountant, who formerly worked for the IRS, told me
in order to stop the audits, get rid of the Rolls-Royce. I said fine. I bought a brand-new Checker, and the audits stopped.

»The Supreme Court of the United States is now killing voting rights. They’re trying to undo all the civil rights
gains. The fight continues.

»I did a lot of civil rights work. Discrimination cases. Housing. Education. I helped integrate the public
schools in Hendry County and Broward County. The good thing about being a lawyer is you can work in so many different areas. I was also involved in criminal law. I had some great first-degree murder
cases. I did drug cases early. Where ever the money was, I tried to get there. That ’s what you have to do when you’re in private practice.

Constitution Day at the University of Florida, scheduled for Sept. 17, is dedicated to a remembrance of desegregation at UF. As the university enters its 50th year of
desegregation, it is appropriate to reflect on the tremendous progress we’ve made towards the ultimate goal of racial integration.

The bitter Civil Rights struggle that first opened the doors of educational opportunity to people of color on this campus seems very far removed from modern experience —
as do the individual struggles of the men and women who put themselves on the line to push those doors wide. Yet, we cannot possibly understand the significance of our current, diverse student body
unless we remember and acknowledge the truly heroic individual struggle
these men and women endured to achieve it.

Admission into the UF College of Law on Sept. 15, 1958 of a single African-American student, George Starke, came nearly a full 100 years into the university’s
existence, and mid-point in the College of Law’s history. His matriculation marked the end of extrajudicial and judicial steps to desegregate the University of Florida, but it came at great personal
cost to another African-American applicant, Virgil Hawkins.

In 1949, Virgil Hawkins was among six African-American students who applied for admission to several graduate schools at UF, including the College of Law. On the
advice of their counsel, they applied for admission to programs that were not offered at the historically black Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College. Their applications were rejected by the
University of Florida solely on the basis that they were not white. Hawkins and William T. Lewis were denied admission to the College of Law and — with the assistance of future Justice Thurgood
Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund — they joined three other rejected UF applicants in filing suits to end the racist exclusion rules.

The litigation involving the law school lasted nine years; it produced four opinions by the Supreme Court of the United States. The state of Florida, through Florida
Supreme Court rulings and other methods, repeatedly sought to maintain an all-white student body at the University of Florida; the state offered to and indeed created a “separate-but-equal” law
school for blacks at FAMU. When federal courts rejected all attempts to enforce segregation and ordered the State of Florida to admit Hawkins to the College of Law, the Florida courts and state
executive officials engaged in additional delaying tactics.

Finally, in 1958, Hawkins, who was by then the only remaining lead plaintiff in the case, abandoned his own aspirations to attend the College of Law by agreeing to
drop his suit against the state — ending nine years of litigation — if the state would desegregate university admissions. On Sept. 15, 1958, George H. Starke, Jr. enrolled in the University of
Florida College of Law, becoming the first African-American student to enter the university. In 1962,
W. George Allen became the first African-American to receive a degree from the UF College of Law. In 1965, the Honorable Stephan Mickle, United District Judge in the Northern District of Florida,
became the first African-American to earn an undergraduate degree from the university. Hawkins went on to graduate from New England School of Law in 1964 and
became a member of The Florida Bar in 1977.Read more

Virgil Hawkins and the Fight to Integrate the University of Florida Law School - The Florida Memory Blog

On May 13, 1949, a forty-three year old man from Lake County named Virgil Darnell Hawkins received a letter from the University of Florida Law School rejecting his
application because he was African-American.

Hawkins refused to accept the prejudiced decision without a fight, and promptly filed a lawsuit against the Florida Board of Control in 1950. His legal battle would carry on for nine years, laying the foundation for integrating graduate and professional schools in
Florida.

Despite the larger civil rights victory, Hawkins emerged from the ordeal partially defeated as he never gained admission to the institution he considered "one of the
finest law schools in the country." The case of Virgil Hawkins v. Board of Control brought Florida into
the national school desegregation conversation, serving as an antecedent to the Brown v. Board of
Education ruling. Furthermore, Hawkins’ ordeal underscores the tenacity with which segregation advocates fought the drive for an integrated university system, some even going so far as to
suggest that such a change would incite "public mischief."

College of Law buildings at the University of Florida (circa 1950s)

Before Virgil Hawkins took his stand, there was no law school for African-Americans in Florida. Rather than fund a separate institution in Florida or permit
African-Americans to attend an existing school with whites, the state instituted a law in 1945 to provide scholarships for select African-American students to study at segregated law schools outside
the state. When Virgil Hawkins refused to accept that alternative, the Board of Control approved plans to open a segregated law school at Florida A&M College. By 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court had
ruled on two related cases, Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma, professing the inherent inequality of segregated graduate institutions. Despite
these rulings, the Florida court still refused to admit Hawkins, and would continue to refuse even after the so-called Brown II decree issued by the Supreme
Court in 1955 to clarify the original Brown decision. Hawkins persisted in his fight against the state’s
segregationist position, but more challenges were on the way. In 1958, the Board of Control established a new minimum score on the law school entry exam for incoming students, setting the admission
threshold fifty points above Hawkins’ 1956 score. As a result, Hawkins was officially denied not because of his race, but rather because he was disqualified by the new rules regarding test
scores. Later that summer, federal district judge Dozier DeVane mandated that all qualified applicants be admitted to graduate and professional schools in Florida regardless of race.

Judge Dozier DeVane, who ruled that qualified applicants had to be admitted to law and graduate programs regardless of race, stands at right in this photo, along with Harrold G. Carswell (center) and an unknown man at left (1953)

Nine years after the initial integration suit, African-American veteran George H. Starke, not Virgil Hawkins, enrolled at the University of Florida Law School in
September 1958 without incident. As for Virgil Hawkins, he eventually received his law degree in New England, and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1977. He resigned in 1985 following complaints
about his practice.

Virgil Hawkins’ case is an excellent example of how the Civil Rights Movement played out in the courtrooms of Florida as much as it did at lunch counters, public
beaches, and city buses. The legal battles fought by Hawkins and others laid the groundwork for an integrated education system for all of Florida. Read more

Virgil D. Hawkins speaks with supporters while on recess during his disciplinary case before the Florida Supreme Court (1983).

LEESBURG, Fla., Feb. 14— Virgil D. Hawkins, who waged a 28-year battle to practice law in Florida and helped break the color barrier at the University of Florida Law
School, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 81 years old.

Mr. Hawkins had been in poor health for several months. He died at Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala after suffering acute kidney failure, said his wife,
Ida.

Mr. Hawkins, who was born in Okahumpka, near Leesburg, taught school and was a principal in Lake County schools in the 1940's after graduating from Bethune-Cookman
College.

In 1949, at the age of 41, he applied for admission to the all-white law school at the University of Florida in Gainesville and was rejected because he was black. Mr.
Hawkins challenged the state's segregated school system. In 1956, the United States Supreme Court ruled that he should be admitted to the school.

Thwarted by New Barriers

But the Florida Supreme Court invoked the doctrine of states' rights to deny him admission.
The state's Board of Control then adopted rigid entrance requirements that made it impossible for Mr. Hawkins to enroll.

In 1976 the Florida Bar urged the Florida Supreme Court to allow Mr. Hawkins to take the state bar examination even though he had attended an unaccredited law school
in Massachusetts 20 years earlier. The bar said he should be given special consideration because of his ill treatment while he was trying to enter law school in 1949.

In November 1976, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 7-0 that Mr. Hawkins should be allowed to practice law and waived a requirement that he first take the bar
exam.

After a 28-year fight, Mr. Hawkins opened his law practice in a tiny office in Leesburg. But at the age of 77 he found himself before the Florida Supreme Court again
because of complaints about his competence and accusations that he had misappropriated $15,000 entrusted to him by a client.

In January 1984, the Florida Supreme Court censured Mr. Hawkins and placed him on probation for two years because of errors he had made in his first cases. Mr.
Hawkins, facing two additional complaints, was allowed to resign from the Bar in April 1985.

The Virgil Hawkins Justice Foundation was formed in 2009 to support Florida Supreme Court
Chief Justice Peggy Quince’s vision to publish the book "Florida’s First Black Lawyers, 1869-1979 to document and honor the achievements, challenges, struggles and prejudices experienced by
the first Black lawyers admitted to the Florida bar, including Virgil Hawkins, whose own struggle for access to the profession epitomizes the importance of ensuring equality and justice in
access to legal profession. The Virgil Hawkins Justice Foundation, in partnership with the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter National Bar Association, organized the Legacy Gala to unveil
"Florida’s First Black Lawyers, 1869-1979" and celebrate the avhievements of Florida’s Living Legends. The experiences and biographies documented in "Florida’s First Black
Lawyers" made it clear to the members of the The Virgil Hawkins Justice Foundation that there is a continuing need to push for diversity in the practice of law and that obstacles such as
bar exam passage should not hinder the pipeline of young talent interested in developing successful legal careers. As such, the Virgil Hawkins Justice Foundation adopted the mission to provide
assistance and support to programs for minorities interested in pursuing a legal career; provide support to students through scholarship programs and to develop activities designed to expose minority
students to the legal profession. We trust that you will join us in supporting our mission and goal to "Support Access, Justice and Diversity in the Legal Profession". Home page

____________________________________________________

Hon. June C. McKinney:

“Today, there are approximately 86,000 lawyers in Florida. Yet the number of black lawyers does not reflect the approximate 15.9 percent of Florida’s black
population.”

Status of Educational Desegregation in Florida in 1956

It should be stated quite candidly at the outset that there has been no desegregation in the public schools of Florida. One might say that we are still in the talking
and "planning" stage. Further, there is reason to believe that there will be no spectacular or unusual rush into the waiting arms of integration. It cannot be said, however, that Florida's position
has been, or is, one of "wait and see." Some definite and important steps have been taken in the direction of evolving a modus operandi.

Florida's first attempt at circumventing the Supreme Court of the United States came in the form of a legislative bill. The bill, sponsored by Senator Charley E.
Johns, former acting governor, instructs county school boards to assign each child to the school "to which he is best suited." Moreover, it makes the determinations of the local boards conclusive of
the issue. In addition to its primary purpose, the preservation of segregation, the bill makes possible the use of study groups, special legal counsel to assist local boards, and surveys to channel
the local school boards in the rendering of decisions. At first glance, one might think that the bill is simply intended to ease the road of desegregation, but the statements of the sponsor and its
supporters negate any such thought. The bill is designed as an out-and-out anti-integration piece of legislation. Some persons who have carefully examined the bill point out, however, that the
segregation preservists may have out done them- selves. As Southern School News noted in its issue of July 6, 1955, the loosely worded and multifarious provisions of the bill just might "give local
school boards all the legal authority they need to carry out the Supreme Court decision."

Negro parents in four of Florida's sixty-seven counties filed petitions to enter its public schools on a non- segregated basis in September. There was no action taken
except referral to study committees. The petitions were not followed by court action. Attorney General Richard W. Ervin seemed to have correctly interpreted the status of things in September when he
said: "They [Negroes] apparently realized such radical departure from established social tradition must be approached slowly." In any event, there was no flood of petitions and no rush to sign the
four actually submitted.

It was a turning point for a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr.—and for a young federal judge named Frank Minis Johnson Jr.

In December 1955, as a bus boycott roiled Montgomery, Alabama, King was elected leader of the city’s fledgling protest movement. A month later, Johnson was appointed
U.S. district judge in Montgomery’s federal courthouse.

For the next decade, Johnson’s court, the Middle District of Alabama, played a critical role in the civil rights movement, and in two of King’s most defining hours—the
Montgomery bus boycott and the 1965 Selma marches.

As the nation celebrates King’s birthday, Johnson’s successors on the bench still take pride in a time when protesters and judges alike braved threats of violence, as
they challenged racial segregation.

"It is a critical part of our court’s history," said W. Keith Watkins, chief judge of the Middle District of Alabama, who is leading continuing efforts by the court to
pass on lessons from the civil rights era. "In Alabama, race was the issue. It’s difficult to exaggerate how bad it was for blacks."

King and Johnson were newcomers to Montgomery on Dec. 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks was arrested for defying Montgomery’s segregated-bus rules.

In defending the boycott, King invoked the federal courts, which in 1954 struck down school segregation. "If we are wrong, the Supreme Court is wrong," he said. "If we
are wrong, the Constitution is wrong. If we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong."

When four riders sued in the Middle District of Alabama, a special three-judge panel, with Johnson and Judge Richard T. Rives in the majority, ruled in Browder v.
Gayle that segregated buses violated the 14th Amendment. In December 1956, after the Supreme Court upheld the ruling, the yearlong boycott ended in a historic civil rights victory.

It was the first of numerous landmark cases. Johnson and his colleagues struck down rules denying voting rights to blacks, desegregated Montgomery’s bus depot and
airport, and in 1963, ordered Alabama public schools desegregated.

Judge Myron H. Thompson said the federal court was "an oasis" for blacks in Alabama.

The court’s fairness made it an "oasis" for Alabama blacks, said Judge Myron H. Thompson, who succeeded Johnson in 1980, after Johnson became an appellate
judge.

"The federal court in Montgomery, Alabama, was virtually an island. It was the only place where blacks in the state could go and be assured that they were American
citizens," Thompson said. "Judge Johnson exemplified the essence of judging. He was an example for all judges, not just me."

In 1965, Johnson and King crossed paths again. The first of three voting-rights marches, from Selma to Alabama’s statehouse in Montgomery, ended in violence on March
7, 1965, when deputies beat protesters as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Asked to halt police harassment, the judge initially prohibited another bridge crossing until both sides could arrange to protect the protesters.

After learning that President Johnson would nationalize Alabama’s National Guard, the judge permitted King and the marchers to cross the Pettus Bridge. His order
barred Alabama authorities from "arresting, harassing, thwarting or in any way interfering with the effort to march from Selma to Montgomery."

Johnson received death threats, and the Ku Klux Klan dubbed him "the most hated man in Alabama." A cross was burned on his lawn, and a firebomb damaged his mother’s
house. He had constant U.S. Marshal protection for 15 years.

Johnson, who later won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, said his only goal was to enforce the Constitution. "The action of the judges, sitting on the federal
bench, hasn’t been for the purpose of effecting social change," he said in a 1974 interview (link
is external). "I approach the thing strictly from a legal standpoint. … I have no interest in social change, as a judge."Read more

Pathways to the Bench: U.S. Magistrate Arlander Keys

Law Clerk Rehnquist and Separate-But-Equal Ruling

A new law review article considers whether William H. Rehnquist was citing his own views in 1952 when he wrote a memo as a Supreme Court law clerk supporting the 1896
decision upholding the separate-but-equal doctrine.

"I realize it is an unpopular and unhumanitarian position, for which I have been excoriated by ‘liberal’ colleagues," Rehnquist wrote to his boss, Justice Robert H.
Jackson, "but I think Plessy v. Ferguson was right and should be reaffirmed."

During his confirmation hearing, Rehnquist said he had prepared the memo as a statement of Jackson’s tentative views, and they were not his own opinion, the New York Times reports. Now a new law review article (PDF) seeks to debunk Rehnquist’s pre-confirmation claim.

Jackson was part of the unanimous opinion striking down the separate-but-equal doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education, and Rehnquist appeared angry with his boss in the
aftermath, according to the authors of the article, Brad Snyder and John Q. Barrett. The cite Rehnquist’s apparent criticisms of his boss in a 1955 letter written to Justice Felix Frankfurter after
Jackson’s death.Read more

Stockbridge, MA, July 5– Norman Rockwell Museum announces the loan of Norman Rockwell’s iconic painting "The Problem We All Live With," part of its permanent
collection, to The White House, where it will be exhibited through October 31. The loan was requested this year by President Barack Obama, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Ruby Bridges’
history-changing walk integrating the William Frantz Public School in New Orleans on November 14, 1960, that later inspired Rockwell’s bold illustration for the January 14, 1964 issue of "Look"
magazine. "The Problem We All Live With" was the first painting purchased by Norman Rockwell Museum in 1975. The White House loan was made possible through the support of the Henry Luce
Foundation.

"Norman Rockwell Museum is deeply honored that the White House has requested the loan of one of Rockwell’s most important paintings," says Museum Director/CEO Laurie
Norton Moffatt. "The painting has come to serve as an important symbol of civil rights, and Museum Trustee Ruby Bridges’ historic journey. We are enormously grateful for the support of the Luce
Foundation, that made the loan possible."

Ruby Bridges’ historic walk took place six years after the 1954 United States Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education ruling declared that state laws establishing
separate public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional, and represented a definite victory for the American Civil Rights Movement. Among those Americans to take note of the event
was artist Norman Rockwell, a longtime supporter of the goals of equality and tolerance. In his early career, editorial policies governed the placement of minorities in his illustrations (restricting
them to service industry positions only), however in 1963 Rockwell confronted the issue of prejudice head-on with one of his most powerful paintings–"The Problem We All Live With." Inspired by the
story of Ruby Bridges and school integration, the image featured a young African-American girl being escorted to school amidst signs of protest and fearful ignorance. The painting ushered in a new
era in Rockwell’s career, and remains an important national symbol of the struggle for racial equality.

"I was about 18 or 19 years old the first time that I actually saw it," says Ruby Bridges Hall, who now serves on the board of Norman Rockwell Museum. "It confirmed
what I had been thinking all along–that this was very important and you did this, and it should be talked about… At that point in time that’s what the country was going through, and here was a man
who had been doing lots of work–painting family images–and all of the sudden decided this is what I am going to do… it’s wrong and I’m going to say that it’s wrong."

The illustration appeared in the January 14, 1964 issue of "Look" magazine, and earned Rockwell letters of both praise and criticism from readers unused to such direct
social commentary from the illustrator. Rockwell would revisit the theme of civil rights in several other illustrations from the period, and in 1970 received the Million Dollar Club Award from The
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), for having contributed $1000 to the organization.

Ms. Bridges Hall, who founded The Ruby Bridges Foundation in 1999 to promote the values of tolerance, respect, and appreciation of all differences, commends Rockwell
for having "enough courage to step up to the plate and say I’m going to make a statement, and he did it in a very powerful way." Learn more about the Ruby Bridges Foundation atwww.rubybridges.com.

Every nation has a creation myth, or origin myth, which is the story people are taught of how the nation came into being. Ours says the United States began with
Columbus's so-called "discovery" of America, continued with settlement by brave Pilgrims, won its independence from England with the American Revolution, and then expanded westward until it became
the enormous, rich country you see today.

That is the origin myth. It omits three key facts about the birth and growth of the United States as a nation. Those facts demonstrate that White Supremacy is
fundamental to the existence of this country.Read

On the dayBennie Coleman lost his house, the day armed U.S. marshals came to his door and ordered him off the property, he slumped in a folding chair across the street and watched the vestiges of his 76 years hauled to
the curb...because he didn’t pay a $134 property tax
bill.

60 Minutes' Steve Kroft Talks To Carl HiaasenIn a little less than a
century, the state of Florida has been transformed from a largely uninhabited swamp to the fourth-largest state in the union. And no one has written about that transformation more successfully than
Carl Hiaasen.

Carl Hiaasen on Florida:

"The Sunshine State is a paradise of scandals teeming with drifters, deadbeats, and misfits drawn here by some dark primordial
calling like demented trout. And you'd be surprised how many of them decide to run for public office."

In 1902, 140,000 miners went on strike, wanting higher pay, shorter work hours, and better housing.....Roosevelt...use[d] the military to run the mines in the "public
interest". The mining companies...accepted the demands of the UMW...more﻿﻿

Presidential Library and Museum

Pro labor: Labor is prior to, and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first
existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much higher consideration.Abraham
Lincoln pro labor quote﻿

Todayeconomic slaveryhas many people indebt chains. Economic or debt slavery ismore efficientfor its masters than the slavery of the Old South. Debt slaves must
feed, house and clothe themselves. Thedebt slave masters, thebanks,credit card companies, and even student loan providers, all rely upon the courts and justice system for enforcement of debt. When economic slaves can’t pay back their debt, they are told to get a second job. Or a third job.

Meanwhile, when thewell-connected mastersof economic slaves get in a financial bind, and
bring our economy to the brink of collapse, they call on politicians in Washington, DC for bailouts.Bankers don’t get second
or third jobs, they get million-dollar bonuses.

Theeconomic slave mastershave access to the best lawyers, sympathetic judges, and sheriff’s
deputies ready to haul the debt slave to court, or throw him and his family out of their
home and into the street. Does anyone see a problem with thisscenario? Where is the John Brown for today’sdebt slaves?﻿

The State Department's top spokesman resigned Sunday, three days after criticizing the Pentagon for its treatment of [Manning]...P.J. Crowley, the assistant secretary of State for public affairs, told a group at [MIT]...that the Pentagon's treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning was "ridiculous and stupid and
counterproductive." His comments were made public by a blogger who attended the session.More here, and Politico, andThe Washington
Post

FORTY years ago today, The New York Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers, a seminal moment not only for freedom of the press but also for the role of
whistle-blowers — like Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the papers to expose the mishandling of the war in Vietnam — in defending our democracy.Read more﻿﻿

Senior ranking US military leaders have so distorted the truth when communicating with the US Congress and American people in regards to conditions on the ground in
Afghanistan that the truth has become unrecognizable.Read
more﻿

"I really don't like the term 'PTSD,’” Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Shay told PBS' "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly" in 2010. "He says the diagnostic
definition of "post-traumatic stress disorder" is a fine description of certain instinctual survival skills that persist into everyday life after a person has been in mortal danger — but the
definition doesn't address the entirety of a person's injury after the trauma of war. "I view the persistence into civilian life after battle," he says, "... as the simple or primary
injury." Dr. Shay on YouTube

Dr. Shay has his own name for the thing the clinical definition of PTSD leaves out. He calls it "moral injury" — and the term is catching on with both the VA and the
Department of Defense.

Moral injury, Dr. Shay says, can happen when "there is a betrayal of what's right by someone who holds legitimate authority in a high-stakes situation."read more

The Marine Corps, the most male of the armed services, is taking its first steps toward integrating women into war-fighting units, starting with its infantry officer
school at Quantico, Va., and ground combat battalions that had once been closed to women.

Stars and Stripes exists to provide independent news and information to the U.S. military community, comprised
of active-duty, DoD civilians, contractors, and their families. Unique among the many Department of Defense authorized news outlets, only Stars and Stripes is guaranteed First Amendment privileges
that are subject to Congressional oversight.﻿ Go to the website

Our motto: "FIGHTING FOR THE TRUTH. . .EXPOSING THE CORRUPT" is our battle cry! We go after, not only pompous brasshats and as COL. David Hackworth so ably put it -
the "perfumed princes" like Gen. Wesley Clark - but Gestapo-like MP's, CID, NIS, OIS and other alphabet agency "bully boys" who ignore the Constitution of the United States and the right to Due
Process.﻿

Major Heather Penney recounts the drama in the skies after District of Columbia Air National Guard pilots scrambled to intercept incoming hostile planes. She
describes why F-16’s initially took off from Andrews Air Force Base unarmed – and what she was prepared to do to bring down a plane piloted by terrorists. And she recounts how later that day she
helped escort President Bush and Air Force One back to Andrews Air Force Base.﻿ C-Span
Interview

Information on this website is a free public service. While the information on this site deals with legal issues, it does not constitute
legal advice. If you have specific questions related to information available on this site, you are encouraged to consult an attorney who can investigate the particular circumstances of your
situation.

Due to the rapidly changing nature of the law and our reliance on information provided by outside sources, this website does not warranty or guarantee the accuracy or
availability of the content on this site or on other sites to which we link.

In no event will this website be held liable to any party for any damages arising in any way out of the availability, use, reliance on or inability to use this website
or any information provided by or through this website, or for any claim attributable to errors, omissions or other inaccuracies in, or destructive properties of any information provided by or
through, this website.

Neil J. Gillespie:
1. Does not give legal advice.2. Not a lawyer.3. Not an attorney.4. Not licensed to practice law.5. Did not go to law school.

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Seven Year Anniversary - YouSue.org to NoSue.org

Seven years ago I started the Justice Network with the domain name YouSue.org. This name was chosen in the spirit of YouTube, the video-sharing website that
empowered ordinary people to produce and share video.

Through this website I have met folks from all over the country. Some of their stories are profiled here. Many have reached the conclusion that America’s justice system is broken.

The official Justice Network Internet address is now NoSue.org. This reflects the sad truth that for most Americans the justice system is broken, just a parody of justice. Reform American courts or
avoid them. Your life, health and wealth is at risk. But don’t just take my word, listen to the experts on this site.

The stories, images, and videos on this website are in the public
domain, or featured here under the fair use doctrine if copyrighted. I claim no credit for images posted on this site unless noted. If there is an image on this site that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear, E-mail with a link to the image and it will be removed.